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HOUSE RESOLUTION 121! LABAN NA!

Greetings from Manila -- The Filipina "Comfort Women" are in this fight to the finish. They've been fighting this battle publicly since 1992 and are so pleased that Mike Honda has authored House Res. 121.

When they read the notes many people sent them in the green book as well as letters to Congress and petitions, they told me "Na kakatuwa kami." Their hearts are full knowing that so many Americans understand the need to right this wrong and to fight for Human Rights by recogninzing the past.

Below is a letter from Annabel Park of 121 Coalition. Please join the campaign to really make sure House Res 121 passes in the next few weeks.

Continue to fight the good fight and remember the lolas and all the other 200,000 women and girls who were taken. Let Congress really know that this is not just a Korean American issue. It's an atrocity that affected many. While the Hill has mainly Korean Americans lobbying (and we're grateful to them too) the public is foolish and they assume that the faces on the Hill only represent their own nationality. In fact the many hard working lobbyists fight for every single woman and girl taken during World War II and every war that's ever been and every war that ever will be. I thank our 121 Coalition colleagues on the Hill and I ask you to join them in any way you can. It is so important to let Congress and the general public know how widespread the "Comfort Stations" were.

Read Annabel's note and man your fax machines! You know if I was in the U.S. right now, I'd be the first to fax everyone (several times).

One last note: When I first began my research in 1999, I had met over 40 women in Manila, this visit there are only 20 left. They are old and fragile and dying. It's likely that Japan is waiting for them all to pass away. Well, old and fragile, yes, but spirited too. Malakas pa ang loob nila! They tell me they won't stop fighting ever. Even after they pass away, their children have vowed to carry on the good fight They know there is war today and that there is still the danger of rape and aggression on innocent girls, that is why their fight is strong -- no matter how old, how skinny or how forgetful they have grown -- they are still grandmothers looking out for the granddaughters of this earth. Help them secure justice in the name of Human Rights.

This is indeed an exciting time. There is tremendous momentum on the Hill in support of H.Res.121. As you all know, on June 26th, after a very exciting and fruitful discussion, H.Res.121 passed the House Committee on Foreign Affairs 39-2. Rep. Tancredo and Rep. Paul were the only two members who opposed the resolution.

The discussion during the markup was substantive and there were many impassioned speeches made on behalf of the resolution from Chairman Lantos, Rep. Ackerman, Rep. Crowley, Rep. Jackson-Lee, Rep. Watson, Rep. Scott among others. Many referred to the importance of an apology from the standpoint of having personal experience of injustice as a Jewish American, Irish American, African American and just a caring American. It was a moving experience seeing our democratic process in action and working as it should in favor of what is right. We posted some of the speeches on YouTube on our website: support121.org

Within two hours of the vote, Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a statement commending the resolution and concluding: I look forward to the House of Representatives passing this resolution and sending a strong message that we will not forget the horrors endured by the comfort women. They have waited far too long, but it is not too late to recognize their courage.

This is all very encouraging, but the struggle is not over yet. The House vote has not been scheduled and H.Res.121 must compete with many resolutions and bills for the attention of House leaders. It is still possible that the vote may not take place in July and we will have to wait until after the August recess. To wait until September or October would be a terrible blow for the resolution.

We need to keep working hard until the resolution has passed the House. We cannot assume anything right now except than many people on the Hill express support of the resolution. Until the resolution passes, we cannot stop our efforts.

It is now time to step up our efforts to make sure that we stand up for the victims of Japanese military "comfort stations" and people all over the world counting on US citizens to stand up against war crimes, government-sanctioned trafficking, rape, torture and brutality.

We must muster up our energy and resources for the last stage of the campaign. Here is the 121 national action plan.

1. Organize or participate in a Fax Campaign calling on the House leadership to schedule the vote:Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA-8)Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (MD-5)Minority Leader John Boehner (OH-8)

2. A Fax campaign to thanking and then requesting cosponsorship of the resolution from member of the Foreign Affairs committee who voted "Yes" during the markup but are not yet cosponsors. If you are in their district or even state, please fax them a letter. If you know anyone who is in their state or district, please contact them. If you get a definitive answer one or another, please let me know so that we don't waste our and their time and resources. Let's make this a coordinated event.Rep Russ Carnahan (D-MO)Rep Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ)Rep Ron Klein (D-FL)Rep Brad Miller (D-NC)Rep Robert Wexler (D-FL)Rep J. Gresham Barrett (R-SC)Rep Gus Bilirakis (R-FL)Rep John Boozman (R-AR)Rep Steve Chabot (R-OH)Rep Jeff Flake (R-AZ)Rep Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE)Rep Luis Fortuno (R-PR)Rep Elton Gallegly (R-CA)Rep Robert Inglis (R-SC)Rep Donald Manzullo (R-IL)Rep Ted Poe (R-TX)Rep Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA)Rep Joe Wilson (R-SC)

3. A Fax Campaign to increase support from Republicans. Right now, we have 25 Republican cosponsors. Let's do better. Let's start with the above list from (2) and then expand. We will post a target list of Republicans on our website by tomorrow.

For their contact information, go to: Congress.org. We will also post all the details of this action plan including contact information and sample letters by tomorrow morning. Please keep checking the website for updates. It's going through some updates and changes in the next couple of days.

4. New York and DC teams will hold a lobby day on Thursday, July 12th. Please try to join us. We will meet around 10am at the Rayburn building. This is not open to the press. Please email or call me for more information: annnabelpark@mac.com/703-944-9661

5. DC team will be lobbying nearly everyday. Our ongoing target list includes Reps from FL, NC and CO where there have been substantial letter-writing and petitions from local chapters. Let us know if we should focus on any other states and districts.

6. News:-- Rep. Edwin Perlumutter (D-CO) is our 152nd cosponsor. Thank you everyone who wrote to him in Colorado. Special thanks to Daniel Oh and John Sie of Colorado.-- Lee Young Soo, survivor who testified in Congress in February and who participated in Dignity March in April, returned to the United States today. She is in Los Angeles this week until Sunday for events and interviews and then in DC next week. (It was after I heard her tell her testify in February that I decided that I must get involved in the campaign for H.Res.121. She changed my life.)

Thank you so much for your hard work and passionate enthusiasm! Please contact me anytime to discuss this action plan.

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Maria Rosa Henson, or Lola Rosa, was the first Filipina Comfort Woman of WWII to come forward publicly on September 12, 1992. Because of Lola Rosa, many other Filipinas who had been living with this secret for over 50 years found the courage to come forward and finally speak their truth, finally ask for their apology, finally free themselves from the stories.

Here is an excerpt from her book, COMFORT WOMAN: Slave of Destiny (Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, 1996). This passage occurs in 1943. She's 16 years old and she has just been abducted and placed into a garrison, a former town hospital close to Magalang, Pampanga near Manila.

Without warning, a Japanese soldier entered my room and pointed his bayonet at my chest. I thought he was going to kill me, but he used his bayonet to slash my dress and tear it open. I was too frightened to scream. And then he raped me. When he was done, other soldiers came into my room and they took turns raping me.

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I’m telling my mother and sister-in-law that when Lola Remedios learned I was coming, she began working on this piece as gift to me. It took her all six months to get this far in the tapestry. Every piece – every letter and image has been cut from other fabrics and painstakingly hand-sewn into the cloth. Except for the missing D where she has sewn, “(D)ecember 20, 1942, Dito Ako Nahuli Sa Lugar ng Baryo Esperanza,” it’s all there – the Dagitan River, green…

Lola Precsilla Bartonico was born on January 6, 1926 on the island of Leyte, Philippines. Here is an excerpt from Lola Prescilla’s testimony to the Japanese government:

One day in the late months of 1943 when I was about 17 years old, the Japanese soldiers captured us as we were hiding in one of the air raid shelters. We were only two women in that group who were all my relatives. They started raping my cousin while the other soldiers tied up the men. I was about 17 years old then. Then they tied me and one soldier raped me. I wanted to resist but I was too afraid to for fear of getting killed. After, they brought us to the town of Burauen and I was brought to the elementary school which they converted into garrison. We arrive in there late afternoon. I saw around 15 women who were also raped like what they did to me. After that, I was brought to the Home Economics Building and saw two women inside.

Then my suffering started at the hands of the Japanese soldiers. We were bein…